Missy Elliott, ‘The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)’ (1997)

There are enough signifiers here to identify this as a turn-of-the-century hip-hop video: the Hummer, the Diddy, the booty dancing (O.K., fine, that last one is part of many hip-hop videos). But Hype Williams’ clip for Missy Elliott’s first solo single has an additional layer of off-kilter originality that permanently lodged itself into the mind of anyone who saw it upon its release. Watch it now and the effect is the same. From Williams’ use of the fish-eye lens (which makes Missy’s lips look like they were attacked by the biggest bee in existence) to the stutter-step choreography to Missy’s unforgettable donning of a garbage-bag jumpsuit, “The Rain” countered its genre’s excess with a bit of sorely needed weirdness.